El Dorado County Turns To Power Of Social Media To Catch Criminals
EL DORADO COUNTY (CBS13) – More and more, police agencies are using the power of social media to catch criminals and the District Attorney's Office now has an 80 percent success rate.
"This week we have a sawed off shotgun, weapons, drugs, identity theft, burglary, you name it," came from a video to catch offenders on the DA's Facebook page.
Thomas Nelson was the El Dorado County's Wednesday's most wanted man and in less than a week he was behind bars.
"I had emails, messages come through, phone calls come through, numerous tips with his location and whereabouts," said Dave Stevenson, an investigator with the DA's Office.
He claims it's a matter of posting the mug shot and Facebook users spread the rest.
"We had 233 shares and that was just in a few hours," he said.
Sacramento police located Nelson in the city limits and locked him up.
"They really did a great job and it shows the relationship that we have with other counties," Stevenson said.
You may remember Colin Bowers, an alleged con artist wanted for luring in real estate agents and cheating dozens.
Police not only locked him up using Facebook tips, but were able to find more alleged crimes.
"We found additional victims that we didn't even know that they were victims are that they were out there. So it's really two full when I comes to locating victims and also locating suspects," he said.
But if not used carefully it could cause problems. One agency wrongly accused a dad of luring a child, turns out it was his own and no crime was ever committed.
Stevenson says that's why his agency only posts warrants and unsolved murders.
"It's our community coming together and taking these people off the streets and telling us where they're at is what's really made the difference," Stevenson said.